Obituary: Lynda Bellingham, OBE, actress

Lynda Bellingham: Accomplished star of stage, screen and radio best known to many as the Oxo mum. Picture: PA

Lynda Bellingham gained national fame when she fronted the 1980s Oxo adverts on television. They became classics – mainly thanks to the radiance of the Bellingham smile and the way she ended each advert with a chuckle and a knowing wink.

The Oxo ads established her fame and Bellingham was clever to develop the character of a kindly mum.

She was seen preparing stew from a fancy recipe book while her children looked on in horror. Bellingham brought the casserole to the table saying: “No, Jason, it is not foreign and no garlic.” She then turned, seductively, to her husband and said: “Michael, do you remember Preston?”

The series portrayed domestic bliss and by the time she dished up her last stew in 1999 Bellingham had appeared in 42 adverts. With tongue in cheek she once said: “I spent 16 years as a national treasure making gravy.”

She also enjoyed a lengthy career in the theatre, on television and as a popular panellist on the lunchtime chat show, Loose Women.

Bellingham was diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2013 and revealed last month that she would cease being treated with chemotherapy after the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver. With great dignity she announced: “I would love to have one more Christmas.” Alas, that was not to be.

Lynda Bellingham (born Meredith Lee Hughes) was adopted and brought up in Buckinghamshire by a BOAC pilot and his wife. In her best-selling memoir, Lost And Found, Bellingham detailed her search for her birth mother.

After attending Aylesbury High School she studied drama at the Central School in London, graduating in 1969.

One of her first television jobs was with Penelope Keith as the two juniors in a television sitcom about a monthly magazine. Then she was in ITV’s popular A Family at War with John Nettles, Richard Beckinsale and Colin Douglas.

Throughout 1973 Bellingham played Nurse Hilda Price in one of the first TV soaps – General Hospital – and co-starred with Jimmy Tarbuck in ITV’s sitcom Tell Tarby.

Such high profile shows established Bellingham and she appeared in such popular drama series as Within These Walls, Z Cars, The Sweeney and Angels. In 1986 she was The Inquisitor opposite Colin Baker’s last Dr Who.

Along with James Bolam she appeared in ITV’s Second Thoughts and its sequel Faith in the Future. A classic episode, Auld Acquaintance, saw the two visit Scotland and some old haunts. Bellingham won the Best Comedy Award for the series in 1988.

That led to her being cast as Helen Herriott in All Creatures Great and Small and she appeared in the final four series of the popular Sunday night drama. In one episode Bellingham and the vets had to learn the Eightsome Reel for the village fair. She joyously announces to the cantankerous Siegfried (Robert Hardy) that there will be “loads of blood and thirsty shrieks”.

That was followed by the soft-hearted Mrs Lupin in Martin Chuzzlewit with Paul Scofield and the series about a housewife who won a fortune, At Home with the Braithwaites.

Her stage appearances were frequent and she was last seen in Scotland in the tour of Calendar Girls, directed by Hamish McColl. Bellingham played the lead in the original 1998 production in the West End and then returned for the national tour in 2010.

Regarding the show’s famous nude scene, she admitted: “It was very nerve-racking the first time but once you have done it you just think ‘sod it’ and get on with it. You actually became quite trigger happy.”

On Loose Women her personality bubbled forth on every show. She joined the panel in 2007 and her off-the-cuff quips, husky voice and forthright opinions made her an instant hit with the audience.

This admiration was reflected when she announced she was not continuing with her medication and the studio was besieged with cards from well-wishers.

In 2009, Bellingham was a contestant in Strictly Come Dancing, on which she was partnered by Darren Bennett. They were voted out in the fourth week.

Earlier this month Bellingham did many television interviews full of guts and determination – the beaming smile ever present.

Yesterday her great friend Christopher Biggins said simply: “I will miss Lynda. I’ll miss the laughter.”

In those final interviews Bellingham displayed her humour and zest for life. “I am still hopeful of winning an Oscar for best newcomer, aged 85,” she quipped.

After her final Loose Women Bellingham told the panellists: “Please, when I’m gone, have a big party for me and have a dance.” Bellingham, who received an OBE this year, was first married to Nunzio Peluso and then Greg Smith. In 2008 she married Michael Pattemore. He and her two sons from her second marriage survive her.